The beaches of Santorini are volcanic, which means no golden sand anywhere on the island and a colour range you will not find elsewhere in Greece. It also means the sand gets dangerously hot. Both facts are worth knowing before you walk across one barefoot at two in the afternoon.
Black: Perissa, Perivolos and Kamari
The southeast coast has the long ones. Kamari and Perissa sit either side of Mesa Vouno, the rock mountain with ancient Thera on top, and Perivolos runs south from Perissa for several kilometres of organised beach bars.
The sand is dark grey to black basaltic grit, coarser than it looks and superb at absorbing heat. By midday in August it will burn bare feet within a few steps, which is not an exaggeration and is the single most common tourist injury on the island after quad bikes. Wear something on your feet.
These beaches shelve steeply and the water gets deep within a few metres of the shoreline, which makes them excellent for swimming and a poor choice for anyone who is not confident in open water.
Red: Kokkini Ammos
Near Akrotiri on the southwest coast, below a cliff of oxidised iron-rich rock that really is deep rust red. It is the island’s most photographed beach and among its least practical: small, shadeless, reached on a path along the base of a crumbling cliff, and periodically closed by rockfall.
Check locally before setting out, and consider seeing it from a boat instead, which is both safer and a better view.
White: Aspri Ammos
Next along from Red Beach and reachable only by boat, backed by pale pumice and limestone cliffs. Small, sheltered, and quiet by Santorini standards precisely because you cannot drive to it.
The odd ones
- Vlychada. The strangest landscape on the island: soft white pumice cliffs eroded by wind into shapes that look sculpted. Quieter than the black beaches and worth the trip for the backdrop alone.
- Kolumbo. On the exposed north coast, black and usually empty because the wind makes it unwelcoming. It is named after the underwater volcano offshore.
- Monolithos. Shallow, calm and by the airport. The one beach that genuinely suits families.
- Baxedes. Near Oia, north-facing, and the closest thing to a local beach.
The caldera has no beaches
Worth stating plainly, because it surprises people who booked Oia for a beach holiday. The inner rim is a 300 metre cliff. Every beach on the island is on the outer coast, 20 to 30 minutes away by road.
When
The sea is cold until mid-June and at its best in September, when it has had all summer to warm. The meltemi makes the north and east coasts choppy in July and August, and on those days the south is the place to be.
Scope of this page
A beach guide. This agency operates in Athens and Mykonos and has no presence on Santorini, no partner here and nothing to arrange on the island. See Athens for the capital.
